President Donald Trump has slammed Spain for not contributing enough to NATO, as the defense alliance battles mounting friction among allies.
“Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate. They don’t pay. I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits,” he said at a news conference in Ankara, Turkey, with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
“Don’t even talk to them. They’re hopeless, bad people,” the president said. “There are a couple of others, but in particular Spain,” he added, referring to other NATO members that he says should be spending more on military capabilities.
It marks the latest development in Trump’s row with Spain over its defense spending. It is the only member of the military alliance to not have committed last year to spending 5% of its gross domestic product on defense by 2035.
NATO leaders have gathered in the Turkish capital as the alliance faces a crucial test of its credibility and future viability, with new European defense spending targets under unprecedented scrutiny from the White House.
The Ankara summit comes one year after allies committed to more than double defense spending. Spain secured a carve-out agreement as the southern European country was the only member refusing to commit to the hiked targets.
At the time, Trump threatened a tough trade deal for Spain and said it was “terrible” that Madrid wouldn’t commit to the new targets.
Spain spent 2.1% of its GDP on defense in 2025, up from 1.4% in 2021, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, but it is still lagging behind many European countries.
Rutte cut in, as he sat next to Trump, telling the president: “You got Spain to pay 2%. They spent, they made a huge step in last year.” Rutte added that there were still “issues we have to solve” regarding Spain.
The Spanish prime minister’s office said it saw Trump’s comments as business as usual. In remarks reported by Reuters, the prime minister’s office added that bilateral relations between the U.S. and Spain were beneficial to both countries in trade and defense.
CNBC has reached out to the Spanish government for further comment.
Trump also repeated his critique of the defense alliance, saying he was “very unhappy with NATO,” even if Rutte was “a great leader.” The relationship between Trump and Rutte has made headlines over the past year after Rutte called the president “daddy” and has made real concerted efforts to keep the U.S. engaged.
Intra-NATO tensions have also mounted after Trump expressed frustration over NATO allies refusing to join America’s military action against Iran.
Market reaction
The president also said on Wednesday that he considers the ceasefire with Iran as “over,” sparking a sharp drop in equity markets worldwide.
Spanish bonds — which had already been selling off before the news conference — slid further after Trump’s comments, with the yield on Spain’s benchmark 10-year bond last seen trading almost 10 basis points higher at 3.5682%.
The Spanish IBEX 35 equity index also fell, and was last seen trading more than 2.8% lower. The broad pan-European Stoxx 600 index dropped 1.9% while oil prices spiked, reacting to Trump’s comments on the Iran ceasefire being over.
The U.S. ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, told CNBC earlier this week that he saw current tensions around European governments’ defense spending as “growing pains.”
“I see these as just the challenges that we’ve worked through before,” he said, highlighting uneven defense spending by European countries, including what he referred to as “laggards” that will have to commit to growing that number over the next decade.
— CNBC’s Chloe Taylor contributed to this report.
